The Rays needed Game 4, and they played like a team that understood exactly what was hanging in the balance once the night settled in.
Cleveland opened the scoring in the first inning, but it should have been worse if not for Victor Mesa Jr. in right field. With Chase DeLauter trying to take second on what looked like a slip from Mesa Jr., the throw still got there in time to cut him down.
The Rays, though, looked flat early. Their first trip through the order produced no batted balls leaving the infield and five strikeouts, including four straight from the sixth through ninth spots.
That start didn’t last. Nick Martinez found his rhythm and retired 11 straight batters at one point, while Foster Griffin kept Tampa Bay quiet until the third, when Yandy Diaz doubled with two outs and Jonathan Aranda followed with a single to tie the game 1-1.
Junior Caminero nearly changed the game in the fourth with a 110.7 MPH drive that traveled 410 feet at a 29 degree launch angle. In StatCast history, there had been 180 comparable balls, and all 180 had gone out. This one didn’t, because Petey Halpin tracked it down in the cool air with a strong catch.
Both teams had their messy moments in the middle innings. Richie Palacios started one frame with an infield single, but Taylor Walls couldn’t get a sacrifice bunt down in two tries and then grounded into a 6-4-3 double play. Cleveland also went quietly in the bottom half after a walk, setting up a pivotal sixth.
Stephen Vogt turned to Daniel Espino to finish the fifth, hoping to get the kind of outing he had in Game 3. Espino rewarded that trust by striking out Diaz to end the inning, but the sixth went sideways fast.
He walked Jonathan Aranda and Chandler Simpson back-to-back, and then Caminero hammered another ball over 110 MPH. This time it found grass, giving Tampa Bay a 2-1 lead and putting runners on second and third.
Espino tried the high fastball again after using it to make Caminero look bad in Game 3, but this one came in at 98 instead of 101, and Caminero turned on it and pulled it down the line. It was a sharp adjustment after the rough swings he had taken the night before.
The inning still ended without more damage, though, as the Guardians erased a contact play before Mesa Jr. struck out and DeLuca popped out. DeLuca was then replaced by Cedric Mullins after the inning, which made the move look unusual in the moment.
Cleveland’s defense then helped Tampa Bay extend the lead in the seventh, just as it had in Game 2 when the Rays needed help getting going. Palacios opened with another infield single after Bryan Rocchio couldn’t handle it cleanly.
Walls followed with a single on a fly ball that dropped in front of Chase DeLauter, and Aranda made the Guardians pay by lining a single under DeLauter’s glove in right field. Aranda kept going all the way to third, and Chandler Simpson added a sacrifice fly to make it 4-1.
The Guardians punched back in the bottom of the inning with an impressive two-out rally. Ian Seymour struck out Jo Adell and got Nathaniel Lowe out before Travis Bazzana launched a solo homer.
Patrick Bailey, pinch-hitter Angel Martinez, and Brayan Rocchio then strung together three straight singles. Kevin Cash stayed with Seymour with Steven Kwan due up, and Kwan helped him out by sliding into first instead of running through the bag, ending the inning.
Tampa Bay added more breathing room in the ninth, in a finish that looked familiar to anyone who watched the club during the regular season. Palacios singled, Walls laid down the sacrifice bunt, and Yandy Diaz lifted one and celebrated.
The Rays looked a lot more like the team that won 97 games than the club that had struggled to hit through the first three games of the series. Just as important, the win guarantees the series will end at Tropicana Field no matter what happens next. And the way Kevin Cash handled it said plenty: Freddy Peralta was used on three days’ rest to help stop the bleeding in the sixth, and Bryan Baker took the ninth with a four-run lead, all to avoid falling behind 3-1 and turning the matchup into a best-of-three with two games at home.
In Other News...
Kevin Cashs Game 4 Pitching Move Changed The Rays ALCS Stakes
The Rays found a way to change the tone of the American League Championship Series in Game 4, and part of it came from a move that gave Kevin Cash a little more flexibility than usual. Freddy Peralta, who had already started and won Game 2, was available out of the bullpen for the 7-3 win over Cleveland, and Cash said the right-hander was eager to help in whatever role the team needed. Peralta handled a brief outing well, giving Tampa Bay another arm when the game tightened and helping the Rays even the series at two games apiece.
The bigger picture now shifts to Game 5, where the pitching plan becomes even more important with the ALCS hanging in the balance. Cash confirmed Drew Rasmussen will get the start, and the Rays enter the next game with a chance to take control after surviving a pivotal swing game on the road. For a club that has leaned into creative usage all October, the question is no longer just who starts, but how far Cash is willing to push his options as the series moves into its most pressure-packed stretch. [Read more 🡒]
Rays Turn To An Unusual Rallying Cry In Must-Win Game 4
Down 2-1 in the ALCS against the Guardians, the Rays are looking for any edge they can find as they head into a must-win Game 4, and Richie Palacios has turned to an unlikely source for motivation. He framed Tampa Bays spot against Cleveland through the lens of an NBA playoff team that faced a similar hole, using that comeback as a reminder that a series can swing fast when a club finds the right urgency at the right time.
Palacios went a step further by mapping some of the Rays own personalities onto the kind of roles that tend to drive those postseason runs, suggesting there are players in the clubhouse who fit the tough, relentless mold those teams lean on. It is the sort of clubhouse mindset that can sound like a rallying cry or a stretch depending on how the game goes, but for the Rays, the bigger point is simple enough: they need Game 4 to feel like the start of something, not the end. [Read more 🡒]
Rays Drag ALCS Back To Tampa With Top Of Lineup Rolling
The Rays pushed the American League Championship Series back to Tampa with a 7-3 win over the Guardians in Game 5, a result that tied the series and kept their season moving into a familiar setting. Junior Caminero, Jonathan Aranda and Yandy Daz all helped fuel the offense, while Nick Martinez gave Tampa Bay the kind of steady start it needed in a game with a lot hanging over it.
Now the focus shifts to Tropicana Field for Game 6, where the Rays will try to turn this surge at the plate into another home-field edge. Cleveland is expected to counter with Parker Messick, and Tampa Bay will be banking on its top of the order to keep applying pressure after a night that made the route back home feel a lot more manageable. [Read more 🡒]